Repeating section

A Repeating Section is a container used to group a set of fields that repeats as needed, allowing people to add multiple instances of the section to the form. Repeating sections can also be converted to Table fields when necessary.

On the Entries page, repeating data will appear when you collapse an individual entry. When you export repeating data to Excel, the information will be exported onto a separate sheet in the same workbook.

Label

The label will display as the title of the field or the question that is being asked on the form. You can select the icon on the right to hide the label on the form.

Item Label

The “Item Label” is the title of each repeating section followed a number to indicate how many repeating sections the user has added.

Help Text

Help text can be used to assist the user by providing additional instructions. Help text will display directly under the field.

Number of Items

Set the minimum and maximum number of items that your users can add to a repeating section. Use static numbers such as “1” and “5”, or set calculated limits based on other fields. The minimum limit is the default number of items that appear when a form initially loads. When a minimum of zero items are set, the fields in the section will not appear until the user adds them.

Visit our blog to see examples of how you can use repeating section limits.

Show This Field

By default, fields will always display on the form. However, you may want to hide specific fields or sections based on certain conditions such as a selected value of another field on the form.

Always – Field is always shown.

When – Field will only display when specific conditions are met. After selecting this option, the Conditional Logic Builder dialog will display allowing you to select when the field or section should be displayed.

Internally – Field will not display on the public form and will only display when a Cognito Forms user is editing the form from the Entries page.

Never – Field will never display.

Read-Only

Set fields and sections as read-only to create simple workflows with your forms. All fields can be made read-only, with the exception of fields that are already read-only by default (Calculation, Price, Content, Page break, etc.).

Always – Field is always read-only.

When – Field is read-only when specific conditions are met. After selecting this option, the Conditional Logic Builder dialog will display allowing you to select when the field is read-only.

Internally – Field will not be read-only on the public form and will only be read-only when a Cognito Forms user is editing the form from the Entries page.

Never – Field allows user input. This is the default behavior.

Custom Error

You can set a custom error message that will display under your field when specified conditions become true. The conditional logic builder will allow you to add any number of rules for validating your field. Learn more about the custom error option.